Treating of animal-skin products



Patented Oct. 7, 1930 UNITED STATES? PATENT OFFICE I ANONIMA ronmo, or TURINQITA L TREATING OF ANIMAL-SKIN PBODUGTS' No Drawing. Original application filed May 24,1929, Serial No. 365,780,-a1id in. Italy July 14, 1928. 1 Divided and this appligation filed J'u1'y 15, 1930. Serial No. 488,128. 1

This invention relates to a process of treating animalskin products or animal skin materials, as distinguished from the treatment of wool, hair, etc, and has for one of '5 'its'objects the provision of a processadapted for utilizinguntanned hides, scraps and cuttings therefrom as well as scraps and cut tings from tanned hides. whereby such materials may be converted into a useful and valuable product which in appearance, fibrous texture and flexibility resembles natural leather. I. 3

It will be 'apparent that my invention is of great economical value in that it salvages or utilizes materials which heretofore have generally been converted into glues or fortilizer s. or simply thrown away.

In the practice of my invention, when treating untanned animal skinmaterials or animal *skin products, scraps, and'cuttings therefrom, the fibers of the material-are intimately' and mechanically admixed with an aqueous medium until a thin flowing slurry 4 of the fibers in aqueous suspension is ob tained. The proportion of aqueous medium to the material being treated is necessarily large so as to obtain the desired thin flowing mass or'slurry.

I next add to the slurry a tanning agent which may be a natural or synthetic vegetable tanning agent, a fiber lubricant and a suitable binding material containing a water insoluble binder, the-binding material being miscible with water prior to the coagulation of the binder, for example indiarubber latex, gutta percha latex, balata latex, or the like, as obtained from the trees and which may have been preserved by ammonia or any,

other suitable alkaline preserving material. A synthetic latex or other binding material 'stracting theliquid of the slurry.

vegetable tannin is employed also. Amongst the vegetable tannins I preferably employ those of the pyrogallic series, more particularly sumac. So far as mineral tanning agents are concerned I can employ particularly those containing chromium.

, A suitable fiber lubricant, that is, an oil or I grease ,emulsifiable' in water such as a sulfurated' oil, for example, is added to the slurry either before, during, or after the starch, or other leather nourishing sulx:

stances to the slurry, or to the tanning agen or to the grease. f

The slurry is then caused to flow upon a finely perforated support such as a wire gauze and the liquid of the slurry abstracted to. obtain a fibrous sheet. The material thus obtained is then rolled and pressed, and sub jected to the usualfinishing operations employed in the finishing of natural leathers. This application is a division of my copending application Serial No. 365,780, filed May 24,1929. What I claim is: 1 The process which comprises adding a tanning agent, grease and dextrine to a flowing aqueous slurry containing the fibrous portions of animal skin products in suspension, adding a water insoluble binder and a preservative therefor to the slurry, and ab-v This specification signed this 21st day of I June, 1930.

I ,ANTTONIO 'FERRETTI.

7 containing ,a water insoluble binder and which is in suitable condition .for incorporation in the slurry'may be substituted for the latices above mentioned.

- 5 when amineral tanning agent is employed A suitable substance such as a vegetable tannin may be e ployed for-preservlng the, 

